NAACP – Barnwell News & Info

Local Barnwell Branch information for The NAACP, the Premier Civil Rights organization in the United States, has been a leading force for equality. From its inception in 1909 until today the NAACP continues to push forward in political, economic, and social issues.

Black History on Instagram

The NAACP in South Carolina

The NAACP opened it’s first branches in South Carolina in Columbia and Charleston in 1917. It was almost 10 years after the organization was founded in New York City by W.E.B. DuBois and others in 1909 (a brief history), that South Carolina would have the local branches to assist in local legal battles. By the 1920’s other local branches were founded, namely, in Georgetown, Sumter, Florence, Cheraw, Rock Hill, Greenville and Aiken.

During the 1960’s and 1970’s, the NAACP in South Carolina had major challenges in confronting segregation and Jim Crow Laws. Court cases to implement desegregation, that became the “law of the land” since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court unanimous ruling in 1954 May 17th), Brown v. Board of Education, were major focuses in many areas through out the state. Challenging single member districts also became court fights in direct response to the Civil Rights Act and Voting Rights Act of 1964 and 1965. Many jurisdictions, counties and cities, had no African-American representation due to at-large voting.

The South Carolina NAACP has also been leading the struggle to fight the ill placed reverence of relics of the Old Confederacy. The Confederate Battle Flag in particular and its position or prominence in state government as a symbol of the state’s secessionist past has been a particularly difficult struggle.

In recent years, the NAACP has continued to work to stop the erosion of rights gained from the hard fought battles of the past. In same ways and in some areas around the state, segregation has reemerged. Even voting rights have begun to present similar challenges to those of years ago. The NAACP partnering with community leaders, religious leaders and federal officials continue the struggle.